Divagate

Chapter 18

                                              Lia
                                             •••••
    Vince pulls off the main road and onto a dirt "road" covered in overgrown grass, weeds and ferns. It immediately gets darker now that we're in the woods.

    With no way to avoid the large holes and dips in the road without hitting a tree, we're tossed around the truck's cab. Even grabbing onto the handle does nothing to slow down my bouncing. I'm shocked that nothing has broken off the truck yet.

    Lincoln gets a rude awakening after his head thunks heavily against the window several times.

    "Fuck." He whines softly, holding a hand to his head.

    Just before I lose my lunch all over the backseat, Vince halts the truck. Although we've stopped, it still feels like I'm moving.

    "We've got about a ten minute walk to camp. Are you awake enough for that, Lincoln?" Vince asks.

   "I am now. Thanks for the warning, guys." Lincoln grumbles.

    "In our defense," I say, willing my stomach to stop rolling. "You were sleeping like a baby."

    "Could've at least given me a helmet."

    "I'll remember that for next time." I can practically hear the eyeroll in Darwin's voice.

    Lincoln opens his mouth to respond, but Darwin hops out of the truck and slams the door before he can say anything. Instead Lincoln lets out a sigh.

    "I'll be honest, I kinda missed his sass for the few hours he was gone." Lincoln admits, sliding out of the truck. Following him, I scrunch up my nose in dismay,

     "Really?" He nods. "But you had Siggy! His ass has plenty of sass." This earns a laugh from Lincoln,

     "Yeah, but Darwin's nicer and knows when to cut the shit." I gasp, feigning surprise,

      "Are you calling your friend mean?" Lincoln pauses and makes a face, like he's deep in thought about my question,

       "Yes, yes I am."

       "Wow, Lincoln, you're worse than he is."

       "I know, I'm positively atrocious." Both of us can't help but giggle. "But seriously though, when you live with it for however long we were together, it sort of becomes part of your daily routine."

      "I guess that makes sense."

      "Hey!" Darwin yells to us. I hadn't even noticed how far behind we were getting. "You two better hurry up or we're leaving you out here alone!"

      With a scoff, Lincoln and I pick up the pace a bit.

      Although Darwin didn't act "sassy" towards me today, I figure that I should pretend he did.

      "I can't believe you actually missed that. I was sick of it minutes—no, seconds—into being alone with him."

     "Yeah, how did that go, by the way?" I glance ahead at Darwin. His back is to me, but I can tell he's listening. Vince is listening, too.

    As much as I hate lying to Lincoln, I'm going to in order to avoid getting on Darwin's bad side.

     "It, um, wasn't horrible. We ate breakfast, cleaned up the house, had lunch, and spent most of our time on separate floors. So yeah, not bad." I shrug. "Would've been better without the attitude, though."